Biology Lessons
by Orange Bulldog
Summary: A spell gone awry leads to a pregnant scooby, and changes the course of season 6. Has now been combined with a somewhat edited version of Side Effects. Reviews welcome, and I may write a sequel so suggestions welcome too!
1. A Spell Gone Awry

Disclaimers:

These are obviously not my characters, I'm just borrowing them from Joss Whedon and anyone else who owns them.

If you have issues with people of the same sex loving each other, or live someplace where that's illegal (in which case, consider moving) please move on.

Any dialogue from actual episodes (Gone, Hell's Bells) belong to the writers of those episodes, not me. Most of it changes anyway. If you haven't seen Hell's Bells it might be a bit confusing, as I didn't want to just type in all of the stuff about Xander and the old man.

Pairings: Willow/Tara, Xander/Anya

Rating: PG-13

Willow paced uneasily in her room, worrying again about the state of her relationship with Tara. Two nights ago they had fought about her use of magic, and she had almost cast a forget spell on Tara. That was when it hit her that maybe her girlfriend was right. She had been too stunned by this thought to perform the spell but it had been weighing on her mind ever since. The singing and dancing demon and Buffy's revelation had temporarily distracted her but she couldn't get it out of her mind. She really wasn't sure how to know whether her use of magic had gone too far. That brought her to this point, standing in front of her dresser with a different spell in front of her. The spell was in Latin, and the translation was unfortunately rather vague, promising to let the caster see from "the opposite perspective." Willow wasn't sure if it would help her situation but she was ready to try anything, even though she wasn't sure if using a spell to help her out would just compound the problem. Making up her mind, she uttered a few words in Latin and dropped the final spell ingredient into the mixture in front of her, causing a small poof of smoke to issue from it. Willow collapsed to the floor, unconscious.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Tara was just draining pasta for dinner when she heard a thump from upstairs. In this house that was usually not good, so she left the pot in the sink and ran up to discover the cause. Finding Willow slumped on the floor of their shared room a small cry escaped her mouth.

"Baby? Are you…" she felt for a pulse, and finding a strong one, she calmed down and looked up to see what could have caused her girlfriend to pass out.

"Oh Willow, another spell?" Tara was disappointed and annoyed even as she was concerned about the redhead.

Willow started to stir, hearing her girlfriend's voice.

"What? What happened?"

"I don't know, did you do a spell? You must have passed out. Probably an effect of the spell." Tara said disapprovingly.

"Oh…that's right. It's to give me a different perspective….I was thinking, and maybe you're right about the magic. I thought maybe with a different perspective I could…" Willow's eyes suddenly went wide and she stopped mid-sentence. Something was not right. Her body felt not right somehow, like it wasn't hers. Had the spell gone wrong?

Tara looked skeptical. "Do you really think it's a good idea to use magic to help you decide if you use magic too much?" she asked, but privately she hoped that the spell would work and a new perspective would show her girlfriend the error of her ways.

"Er, I thought about that but I decided this one was worth it." Willow said distractedly.

"Are you okay? Maybe you should lie down? Are you going to pass out again?" Tara wondered.

"I'm gonna go to the bathroom…I feel fine, really." Willow was starting to get an idea of what the spell might have done, and she in reality was feeling anything but fine. She had to find out, but she couldn't do that here.

Tara watched her girlfriend walk into the bathroom and close the door. She sat down on the bed, wondering if Willow would be able to understand the dangers of what she had been doing. Suddenly, she heard a scream from the bathroom. Without a second thought she jumped up and burst in, since Willow had not locked the door. Her eyes went wide at the sight in front of her.

"Ack! No! Go away! I mean, I'm fine!" Willow tried frantically to cover up her naked body, but she knew it was too late.

"What did you DO!" Tara asked, walking into the bathroom and pulling Willow's hands away from her body.

"You're a MAN! Willow! Why are you a MAN!" She yelled.

Willow winced. "Don't yell so loud, maybe I can avoid having the whole neighborhood know. I guess um, it was a side effect of the spell. A way to see things from a, er, different…well…perspective…" Willow said frantically. This was not what she had thought would happen at all!

Tara just stared at her…at Willow. She started to laugh despite herself. "Well, do you have a new perspective?"

Willow hung her head. "Yeah…I think I need help. Weird how I realize that once I turn into a guy, huh? You'd think it would be the other way…I must not be a real guy." She grinned. Then her smile faded, remembering her problem again. "Tara, what am I gonna do? What do you think I should do? How do I stop? I can't just stop totally!"

Tara thought for a minute. "Well, why don't you try not doing any spells for a week. Of course, if there's like a life or death situation or something, we can work around that. Obviously you should use a spell then. But for a week…no magic unless you absolutely have to. Do you think you could do that?" she asked, privately doubting that the redhead could do it.

Willow nodded. "If you help me." She said in a small voice that was surprisingly low.

Tara started to giggle despite the seriousness of the situation. "Um, do you think you could put some clothes on? It's kinda wigging me out…"

"Oh!" Willow's whole body turned red as she blushed remembering her body. She quickly put her clothes back on, having a moment of confusion when she got to her bra. "Um…" she held it in her hand staring at it.

"Maybe you should wear it, stuff it or something…unless you want to explain to the gang." Tara said, starting to giggle again.

"No way! Xander NEVER finds out about this!" Willow turned even redder, picturing her best friend's reaction. She put the bra on, stuffed it with kleenex, and followed it with her shirt.

"So how do you reverse it?" Tara asked.

"Reverse it?"

"Turn you back? Isn't there a reversal spell?"

"Um…I think it's one of those that wear off on their own." She said weakly.

Tara raised her eyebrows. "So how long do we give it before we start to panic?"

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

All through dinner with Buffy and Dawn the witches kept sneaking glances at each other and giggling. Tara had no idea why, but she just found the situation hilarious. She knew she should be more angry with Willow for doing a spell without knowing exactly what it would do, but after all she had agreed to try and go a week without doing magic, so it had a good result. She was a bit worried about why her girlfriend hadn't turned back into a woman yet, but she was hoping that was just to make sure she was serious about not using magic. Maybe it would take a few days, or even the promised week, of not doing magic. If at that point she was still a man, Tara would find a way to reverse the spell.

For her part Willow was mortified and freaked out by her body, but Tara's giggles were contagious. After dinner they watched TV with Buffy until the slayer announced she was going on patrol. They had barely talked about her revelation that she was in heaven, but somehow she seemed to be feeling better, happier. It seemed that getting it off her chest had helped.

Willow and Tara went up to their room after Buffy left.

"So…do you have homework or do you want to go to bed early?" Tara said.

Willow's eyes suddenly opened wide and she looked down at her crotch. "Ack! What is it…oh my god nevermind I know what it's doing…" she trailed off, turning red. "Wow that's really annoying." She said, squirming a little to try to ease her sudden erection. "She didn't mean go to bed like that!" she told her crotch, annoyed.

Tara couldn't control herself anymore, and she collapsed on the bed in a full-blown laughing fit.

Willow put her hands on her slightly less pronounced hips. "What? It's not my fault, it seems to have a mind of its own! Why not talk to it?" the absurdity of what she was saying kicked in and she joined her girlfriend on the bed, cracking up. "I really am a guy! I just talked to my penis!" she chortled.

After a few minutes, they settled down. Tara rolled over onto her side and looked at her girlfriend. She thought for a minute.

"Hey, um, do you…I mean, are you still…" she blushed, not being able to finish her sentence. Willow's eyes went wide when she realized what Tara was trying to ask.

"You want to have sex with me like this?" she asked incredulously. "But…I'm a boy!"

Tara blushed even redder. "Well not really. You're you, you're still Willow, my girlfriend." She said simply.

Willow seemed surprised, but Tara did have a point. "I guess so…well um…if you want to I'm sure it could be talked into it." She joked.

Tara smiled and stood to turn off the lights. When it was dark she walked back towards the bed and lay down beside Willow. Neither made a move for a full minute.

"Um…I think we should just act normally, and see what happens." Tara offered weakly.

Willow thought about that. "Okay."

She rolled over so that she was half on top of Tara and propping herself up on her elbows gently kissed her girlfriend. Tara quickly responded and they were soon in a full-blown makeout session. Removing their clothes was a bit awkward, but the whole experience was less weird than the couple expected.

A short while later, a satisfied Willow rolled off of her girlfriend but cuddled up to her.

"That wasn't so bad, was it?"

Tara smiled. "No, it wasn't. I definitely want my regular Willow back, but it was kinda fun for a change."

They lay in silence for a few moments.

After a minute Willow turned her head up to Tara's. She pushed herself up enough to press her lips to her girlfriend's. "I love you." She said, pulling away.

"I love you too." Tara murmured.

"I just…I mean I'm sure that wasn't the greatest for you, being a lesbian and all…but you wanted to anyway cuz it was me, and that's so…Tara I'm sorry, I've been completely unfair to you lately. With the magic, and everything…you mean so much to me, I could give up magic forever if it was for you." She said pensively. "I know lately I haven't shown it as much…but that's going to change, okay? I promise. Starting right now." She finished her little speech, and looked deeply into Tara's eyes, desperate for a reaction.

Tara's eyes started to tear up as she gazed into her girlfriend's eyes. "Oh baby, it's okay. You don't have to give magic up, I just want you to be more careful okay? I can't believe I'm saying this, but I think that little spell of yours did just what it was supposed to." She teased slightly.

Willow rolled her eyes. "Couldn't it have done that without turning me into a man?"

"Well, probably, but it was funnier this way." Tara giggled. She tightened her hold on her girlfriend and made a strange face.

"What?" Willow asked.

"Feel for yourself." She guided Willow's hand up to her own chest, where Willow felt small but definite breasts again. She quickly reached between her own legs and let out a cheer when she realized she was back to normal.

Tara smiled. "I guess that means you really did learn your lesson."

"The spell seemed to think so." Willow agreed. "And I was serious. I'd do anything for you. I love you so much." She slid over and on top of the blonde witch and kissed her.

"What do you say we reaffirm our lesbian identities?" she whispered huskily into Tara's ear, following it with a gentle kiss on her earlobe.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

A week after the spell gone awry, Willow had amazingly enough managed to not do any spells. She hadn't even had to invoke the life-or-death clause, because it had been rather quiet in Sunnydale. Despite this good news, Tara awoke feeling cranky. She went into the bathroom and soon Willow heard a groan similar to the ones she'd heard the past few days.

"I guess that means it didn't come today either." Willow mused, rolling over in bed. She knew Tara was cranky because she was late. Usually the couple got their periods together, which they liked because it maximized "snuggle-time." Whenever one of them got off cycle due to stress or whatever weird forces controlled that, it was frustrating. Willow had started hers four days earlier, and it was now almost over, but Tara's was still missing in action.


	2. A Medical Surprise

One month later:

Willow looked down at her underwear, annoyed.

"Hey baby, can you get me some clean panties?" she called sheepishly to her girlfriend in the bedroom.

A minute later Tara entered the bathroom with Willow's panties and an odd look on her face.

"What's up?" Willow asked, taking the garment from Tara.

"Will, I haven't had a period in…well it must be like two months." Tara explained. "Remember, I didn't get it with you last time, and I didn't get it later. I guess I forgot all about it, with everything that was happening…" she trailed off.

"Yeah, the last month has been pretty stressful." Willow agreed. "But nothing really out of the ordinary for us. Maybe you should go to the doctor." She suggested, concerned.

Tara nodded absently. "Yeah, I can stop by the health center today after our Japanese History lecture." She mused.

"Do you want me to come with?" Willow asked.

"No, that's okay, you have Differential Equations then, remember? I'll be fine, it's probably nothing."

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Tara sat nervously in the exam room waiting for the doctor. She was relieved to find that the on-call physician was Dr. Waters, a female doctor who had rainbow stickers in her office. Willow and Tara both always tried to get appointments with her, feeling more at home knowing that if their sexuality came up it would not be an issue. In fact, with the amount of time the girls spent in the doctor's office she now knew both of them by sight and knew of their relationship.

The door opened, and Dr. Waters entered. "Tara, it's nice to see you again, though I must say it's always nice to _not_ see you in here for a while, if you know what I mean!" she joked. "What seems to be the problem today?"

Tara blushed and let her hair fall in her face to cover it. "Well…it's kind of stupid, really, I'm sure it's nothing but…I haven't gotten my period in about two months."  
"When was your last one?" Dr. Waters asked.

"Um…I don't know exactly, but well…Willow and I usually get them together…but then last time I didn't get it and then I forgot all about it until she got hers again today. So I'm sure it was about two months ago." Tara started to babble slightly as she explained.

The doctor wrote this information down on Tara's chart and paused before speaking.

"Well, Tara, I'm sure you can guess what my first instinct is. A missed period is a pretty clear sign of pregnancy." She said gently.

"Pregnancy? Oh no, I couldn't be…I'm…I mean I've never…just Willow." Tara got out, turning the color of a tomato.

"Tara, I understand, but we should do a pregnancy test just to rule it out. If it comes back negative we can discuss other possibilities and run some more tests, okay?"

Tara nodded her head, understanding that the doctor needed the negative pregnancy test to pursue other alternatives. "Okay…"

"I'll just need a urine sample, I can get them to run it while you wait, if you'd like. It should only take about an hour."

A little more than an hour later, Tara was flipping through the magazines in the inner waiting room when Dr. Waters entered.

"Tara? You can come with me."

Tara followed the doctor mutely back to her office and sat down on the exam table as she closed the door.

"Okay, so now we can look for other things right? What's first?" Tara asked.

Dr. Waters didn't answer right away. She sat down facing Tara. "Tara. The pregnancy test came back positive." She let the results sink in for a moment.

"Positive? That's impossible…I can't be!" Tara protested.

"I know this is hard to understand, but I had them run it again to be sure. Tara, during that month, did anyone…force himself on you? Or maybe you were at a party, things got a little out of hand, someone could have taken advantage of you without your knowledge?" she suggested gingerly. She knew how hard this must be for Tara. The poor girl had been raped, and possibly didn't even know it until now.

"No! We don't go to parties, and I don't drink or use drugs, and I wasn't r-raped! I've only had s-sex with Will…" Tara suddenly trailed off and her eyes went wide. "Oh my god." She murmured. "The spell!" she blurted out, forgetting where she was.

Dr. Waters looked up from Tara's chart. "A spell?" she asked with interest. "Are you Wiccan?"

"Um…" Tara tried to think of a way out of this. "Yes." she finally came up with, choosing not to reveal any more information than was necessary.

"Tara, are you saying this baby is the result of some sort of spell?" she tried to clarify.

"Er…"

"It's okay, I understand. My mother was a practicing witch. I don't have much power so I don't practice anymore, but you can trust me. You need to tell me what happened Tara." She said softly. "I know enough to know that it matters what the spell was."

Tara's head jerked up. "Oh, no, it's nothing like that. It wasn't a spell to make a baby…I can't believe we were so stupid though…" she trailed off.

"What did you do? I don't think that getting pregnant is a normal side effect of a spell." Dr. Waters prodded.

Tara blushed. "The spell…she didn't know exactly what it would do, and it um…turned Willow into a man for a day. And we um…"

"You had unprotected sex." The doctor finished for the trembling girl.

Tara nodded. "We didn't even think about it! I mean it was still Willow, it didn't even cross my mind."

"I take it this was about six weeks ago?"

Tara nodded again.

"Well, then I think it's safe to say you are pregnant with Willow's child."

Tara lay back on the bed. "What am I going to do? I don't think I'm ready to be a mother! And school…"

"There is always the option – "

"No!" Tara sat up, speaking uncharacteristically forcefully. "Dr. Waters, we've managed to do what every lesbian couple dreams of doing. There's no way I could not accept that as a priceless gift."

Dr. Waters held up her hands in surrender. "I wasn't suggesting that you do, I was merely reminding you of all your options." She thought for a moment. "Well then, you are going to need an OB/GYN. Tell you what, I'll try to find you one who you can tell the truth to, okay? I'll let you know when I find one. Until then, no drinking, smoking, drugs, and make sure you eat enough and healthily. Do you want to call Willow or someone to pick you up?" she added, noticing that Tara was looking rather pale.

"No, I mean, Will was supposed to meet me here after her class, she's probably waiting out there now." Tara said weakly.

"Okay then. Please, Tara, feel free to call me at any time if you need to talk or have any questions."

"Thank you." Tara said gratefully as she got off the table.

She left the doctor's office, marveling at the past ten minutes. She walked out to the front of the clinic in a daze.

Willow was pacing around the waiting area. "Tara!" she felt a sudden urge to kiss her girlfriend but settled for a hug as there were other students watching her curiously.

Tara hugged Willow back, took her hand, and walked out into the sunshine.

"Baby what's wrong, are you okay? Oh god something's wrong!" Willow began to panic. Tara stopped walking and turned to her.

"No, sweetie, I promise, it's nothing like that. But…can we wait until we get home?" she didn't feel like talking in such an open area.


	3. Telling the Scoobies

For disclaimers see Chapter 1

Upon their arrival back at the Summers house Tara walked straight up to their room and closed the door behind them. She sat down on the bed and Willow quickly joined her.

"Okay now you really have to tell me cuz I'm freaking out baby, I mean you say it's not bad but then why do we have to wait till here and maybe it's not like cancer-bad but it's still bad and – "

"I'm pregnant." Tara said simply but loudly to shut her babbling girlfriend up.

Willow's jaw dropped. "You're WHAT! How can you be pregnant?" Willow's mind was running in circles.

"I asked that too. I mean, you're the only person I've ever had sex with. And then I remembered the spell."

"The spell? Oh the spell! The man spell! Oh no! Tara! I didn't...we didn't...I didn't even know we should have....did I?"

Tara smiled and kissed her adorable babbling girlfriend. "You did." She said, pulling away. "I didn't think about it either. But think about it, it's kinda cool isn't it? I mean we aren't really ready for a family, and with our lives it'll be tough, but how awesome is it that I'm having your baby?" She grinned.

Willow's eyes went wide. "That is pretty amazing. Wow, you're having my baby!" She reached down and lifted Tara's shirt so she could see her belly. She peered closely at it, as if she expected it to grow as she watched.

Tara giggled. "Honey, I don't think you can tell yet. It's only been six weeks."

"I don't care, I know Tara-tummy and I bet I can tell!" she continued her inspection, running her hands almost reverently over Tara's skin. "Okay, you're right, it's the same." She said finally, pouting a little.

"Aw, don't worry, I'm sure I'll be showing before you know it." Tara reminded her.

Willow grew serious. "Tara....Are you really okay with this? That stupid spell...maybe it would have been better if I had never done it..."

"Will, that spell helped you see that the path you were going down was the wrong one. I...I was worried I wasn't going to be able to stay with you." She admitted. "But after that, you didn't do any spells for a whole week. And now you think before you use magic. That spell...let's just say I'm very glad you did the spell. And as for the baby...well who are we to frown on such a wonderful gift?"

Willow's eyes were watery and she had trouble speaking. "I was really that bad, huh."

Tara lifted her chin so she could look her in the eyes. "Yes, you were. Emphasis on the past tense. I'm so proud of you Willow." She kissed her passionately to exaggerate her point.

When they finally came up for air, they were laying on the bed holding each other.

"How are we going to tell the Scoobies?" Willow asked suddenly.

"I guess we'll have to tell them about the spell." Tara giggled.

"What! Oh god...I'm never going to live this one down." Willow buried her face in Tara's chest. Tara tried unsuccessfully to stop laughing and settled for stroking her girlfriend's hair. "We have to tell them honey."

"I know...." Willow's muffled voice said.

"Will! Tara!" Buffy's voice came up the stairs. Willow groaned.

"Can I come in?" Buffy said from outside their door.

"Sure Buff, come on in." Willow said.

The door opened but nobody appeared to enter. "Buffy?" Willow started to get up and see why her best friend had opened the door and not come in when she heard her voice.

"Don't bother looking for me I'm right here. Only you can't see me. I'm invisible. Any ideas?" A tube of lipstick on the chest of drawers appeared to float in midair and bounce up and down as Buffy tossed it from hand to hand.

"Wow...um...did something happen to you? Wait a sec, have you been feeling...ignored lately?" Willow asked cautiously.

"Yeah, ignored, I wish. No, this isn't a Marcie deal. I don't know what happened. I left Main Street after getting my hair cut, and-"  
"You cut your hair?" Willow interrupted.  
"Oh, yeah!" said the disembodied Buffy voice. The lipstick stopped bouncing and hovered mid-air.  
"Really? How short?"  
"Um, about up to here ... well, if you could see my hand, it's kind of above my shoulders."  
"Oh, sounds cute!" Willow said enthusiastically.  
"Um...can we get back to freaking out about no-show Buffy?" Tara put in quietly.

"Oh! Yeah of course." Willow said, chastised. "So you were walking on Main Street and you were suddenly invisible?"

"Yep!"

"Uh...okay we can go check out the area, do you want to come with?" Willow offered.

"Nah, I've got some things I just realized I should do." Buffy said oddly. "Let me know what you find." The crystal was replaced and the door swung shut. She was off to Spike's to have a little fun with her new invisible body.

"That was weird." Willow observed.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

A few hours later, the witches returned home with information on the invisibility perps. "I'll check the Department of Motor Vehicles for that mystery van, you can start looking at the books here for invisibility spells, okay? Xander and Anya are on the Magic Shop ones with that pylon we found."

Tara nodded and made her way to the stacks of books in the corner. Most books they kept at the Magic Shop but there were always some around here for one reason or another.

"Bingo!" Willow said.

Tara looked up from her books. "Did you find something?"

"The address for that van. I'm going to go check it out. You want to keep looking?"

"Sure. Call if you need me." Tara returned to the research.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Willow reached the address she had written on a piece of paper and snuck into the basement of the house, near where she found the black van parked. She walked around the room, finding inanely labelled blueprints for an "Invisibility Ray" as well as what appeared to be the actual machine. Suddenly she heard a voice say "Now!" and before she knew it, she was tied up with duct tape.

"Congratulations. You're our first hostage." Said the invisible voice.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Tara!" Buffy called up the stairs. "Tara, come quick, someone just called, they have Willow! I have to go meet them."

Tara rushed downstairs. "What do you mean, they have Willow? Where are we going to meet them?" Tara opened the door.

"No! They said I should come alone." Buffy protested.

"I don't care, I'm going with you. I'll hide or something until you make sure it's safe." Tara insisted.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Five minutes later, the two reached the arcade where Buffy had been instructed to meet Willow's captors. Tara waited nervously outside the arcade. After a few minutes she heard the familiar sounds of fighting, and the arcade patrons started rushing out. Tara did the opposite, rushing in. She saw Willow crawling toward a weird looking gun under a pinball machine. She rushed over, grabbed it, and handed it to her girlfriend.

"Tara! Just a second, I'll have this on the right setting..." she fiddled with the gun and then apparently satisfied, aimed it where it sounded like Buffy was fighting with one of the invisible captors. Both became visible again.

"Jonathon?" Buffy exclaimed in shock.

Willow turned the gun to a plastic-ball filled room where another captor had fallen, turning him visible again too.

"Warren?" Buffy asked in disbelief.

Willow made the third and final captor visible where he was lying on a smashed pinball machine.

"Who are you?" Buffy asked in confusion.

"Andrew." The thin blond man responded in a whiny voice.

Buffy stared at him, still not getting it.

"I summoned the flying monkeys that attacked the high school?"

Buffy looked at Willow, who shrugged.

Warren climbed out of the plastic balls. Jonathan got up and helped Andrew down from the pinball machine.

"During the school play, you know?" Andrew persisted.  
"It's Tucker's brother." Warren said helpfully.  
"Yeah, it's Tucker's brother." Jonathon agreed.  
"Ohh." Buffy and Willow said at the same time, finally remembering.

Willow and Tara moved to stand by Buffy.

"So you three have, what, banded together to be pains in my ass?" Buffy asked, putting her hands on her hips in annoyance.  
"We're your arch-nemesises ... ses." Warren said. "You may have beaten us this time, Slayer, but next time ... um ... uh, next time..."  
"Maybe not!" Jonathon said, throwing something down in front of the Trio. It burst into smoke and sparks.

Buffy, Willow and Tara coughed and waved at the smoke.

"What do you mean, it's locked? You were supposed to check it!" came Warren's voice through the smoke.

"I forgot!" responded Andrew's whiny one.

The smoke cleared to reveal the Trio standing by the back door looking sheepish.

"I give you my arch-nemesises...ses." Buffy said.

"What's going on in here! I got a bunch of scared kids saying this place is haunted!" A security guard said, coming up behind the women. Buffy and Willow turned to look at him. Tara noticed the Trio opening the door and she quickly waved her hand, saying "Claudo!". The door swung shut and locked as she commanded it in Latin and the Trio whirled to face her angrily.

"They stole the Illumniata diamond, officer." She informed the security guard. Buffy and Willow looked at her in confusion.

"I'll explain later." She assured her friends. "Look, it's right here." She took the invisiblity ray gun from her girlfriend and opened it, revealing the diamond.

The security guard's eyes widened as he took in the sight. "Okay, nobody move." He pulled a radio out of his pocket and radioed the Sunnydale PD.

Tara saw the Trio start to slide toward the door again and held up her hand. "Don't even think about it." She warned them. They slunk back and sat down on the floor in defeat.

"Oh my god Buffy." Willow said suddenly.

"What! This is a matter for the police Wills." Buffy said.

"No, your hair!" she said, smiling. "It is adorable!"

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Four hours later Buffy, Willow, and Tara returned to their house exhausted, after talking to multiple police officers about the events of the day, leaving out certain crucial parts of course.

"I can't believe those nerds." Buffy was still fuming.

"I'm just glad we caught them now. Who knows what they would have tried next." Willow pointed out. "They may have been dorky but they had some real power and drive. They could have caused serious damage with those spells a few weeks ago that were messing you up. We're lucky they didn't."

"Well, they'll have a long time to think about that in prison. That police officer said they could be in there for ten years." Buffy said, not feeling bad in the least.

"Hey Tare, you never told us how you knew they had the Illuminata diamond." Willow said suddenly.

"Oh! Right. Well in my research on invisibility spells I ran into a mention of it being used to cause invisibility and I remembered that it had been stolen recently. I was just going on a hunch that it was in the gun."

"Well, nice hunch baby!" Willow grinned, then her eyes went wide in shock. "Oh! Tara! You shouldn't have come today, what if something happened? We have to be more careful!" she started panicking.

"Don't worry, nothing happened. I couldn't just sit by while you were in danger, you know that!" Tara tried to reassure her girlfriend.

Buffy watched the exchange slightly confused.

"Um, guys, what's up?" she asked finally.

The witches turned guiltily, they had forgotten that Buffy was there. They looked at each other.

"Well, we have to tell her sometime." Tara said, smiling. "You want to do it?"

"Can we tell everyone together? I think it'd be easiest." She murmured. "And it's late, and I'm tired."

"Well you better tell us soon, cause I want to know now." Buffy protested.

"Okay, okay, we'll tell everyone at the Scooby meeting tomorrow all right?" Willow said.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The next afternoon, the whole gang was gathered in the Magic Box. Buffy was wriggling with anticipation, since she already knew something was up. Dawn, Xander and Anya just thought the meeting was about the evil Nerd Trio and the invisibility spell. In fact that was the main focus of the meeting, but the instant that was over Buffy said "Okay girls, spill it, now!"

Xander, Anya, and Dawn looked at her in confusion. Willow and Tara both blushed and looked at each other.

"Willow and I have some...news." Tara began. "I'm pregnant."

"It's my baby." Willow put in before anyone could go down that road.

"Um, Wills, maybe you didn't pay attention in health class, but I'm pretty sure that's not possible." Xander said.

Willow rolled her eyes at him. "Xander, I know that okay? It's...there was magic involved." She said, blushing. She paused.

"You want me to tell them?" Tara said softly.

"No, no, I can do it." Willow straightened her shoulders. "So about six weeks ago, you know I was having some trouble with magic. Using it too much. Well, I was starting to realize that Tara was right about that, as you all know. What you didn't know that I did a spell that I thought would help me see from a different perspective, to help me see if I was going too far....well I guess it was a little vague and long story short it made me a guy for a day. Anyway, we well, you know, while I was a man and we didn't think about it, and now well you see what happened."

The group just stared at her. Then Buffy started laughing. "You turned yourself into a MAN?"

Willow hid her bright red face in Tara's shoulder and Tara nodded. "It was actually the turning point for her and magic, so from that perspective it was a definite success."

"And the baby side effect...well that's good too, I mean if you'd asked me if I thought we were ready to have a baby two months ago I would have said no, but now that it's coming I can't think of anything unhappy about it." Willow added, kissing her girlfriend for good measure.

Dawn jumped up and hugged both of the witches. "I love you guys! I'll babysit whenever you need it! Oooh! I'm so happy for you!" she grinned.

"Yes, of course, congratulations." Buffy said, still in shock and trying not to laugh anymore thinking about Willow as a man.

"Are you going to be all big and fat for the wedding?" Anya asked bluntly.

"An!" Xander said aghast.

Tara looked taken aback but she thought for a second. "Well it's two months away now, so I might be starting to show but b-barely." Willow's face broke into a smile, thinking about Tara showing.

"You know, there are things you use so this sort of thing doesn't happen." Anya pointed out.

"Anya!" Xander chastised her again.

"Well there are! If we didn't use condoms I'd be pregnant all the time!" Anya pointed out. "Everyone knows that. Why don't they? Just because they're lesbians doesn't mean they don't know what a condom is."

Willow rubbed at her eyes. "Anya, we know what condoms are...we just didn't think about it okay? I mean we don't usually have to worry about that!"

"It's n-not important now anyway." Tara pointed out. "It's a blessing. I'm glad we didn't think about it." She smiled shyly at Willow, who kissed her lightly.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Willow and Tara walked tentatively into the waiting room of Dr. Yates, the OB/GYN that Dr. Waters had recommended. She had assured them that they could tell her of the unusual circumstances surrounding the conception of their child, but they were still more than a little nervous.

Willow looked around the waiting room as Tara signed in with the receptionist. There were two women sitting alone, two straight couples and another, older, lesbian couple. Willow smiled at them as they took their seats.

"I'm nervous." Tara whispered, looking a little pale.

Willow took her left hand and squeezed it gently. "I'm sure everything will be fine honey."

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"So? How did it go?" Buffy asked the second the witches entered the Magic Box.

Willow grinned and held up a small printout. "Look! Baby! Picture!" she got the words out, but grammar was currently escaping her.

Tara grinned at her enthusiastic girlfriend. "Everything was fine. Dr. Yates was very nice, and she knows about magic so she understands. It was weird to tell her, but I'm glad we could. I'd hate to go through this with a doctor who thought I cheated on Willow or something."


	4. The JenkinsHarris Wedding

For disclaimers see Chapter 1

Tara was right, she was barely starting to show at Anya and Xander's wedding. She and Willow put their dresses on along with Dawn and Buffy.

"Will can you zip me up?" she asked.

The redhead moved behind her girlfriend and gently zipped up the green dress.

"Oh whew, I was afraid I'd grow again and it wouldn't fit." Tara said in relief.

Willow looked at their reflection in the mirror and frowned. "I don't see how that would be a bad thing. Remind me again why I have to wear one of these? I'm supposed to be best man. Shouldn't I be all ... Marlene Dietrich-y in a dashing tuxedo number?"

Tara giggled.

"That would be totally unfair. We must share equally in the cosmic joke that is bridesmaids-dom." Buffy said from the other side of the room where she was helping Dawn zip up her dress.

"Okay, but you two don't have the awful sleeves!" Willow protested.

"Well, at least you look beautiful in green." Tara said, smiling at her girlfriend, who grinned back and resigned herself to her fate.

"I'll go see how Xander's doing and then come help you with Anya, okay?" Willow said.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"The groom is dressed and ready to go!" Willow announced, walking into the room Anya was dressing in. "How's the bride doing?"

"Just getting into the dress..." Tara said.

"Want me to hold it shut for you?" Willow offered.

"Sure."

"Are you guys even listening?" Anya said in frustration. "I need feedback, people."  
"Sorry. Please continue with the vows." Tara said, smiling at Willow.  
Anya cleared her throat. "I, Anya, promise to ... love you, to cherish you...to honor you, uh, but not to obey you, of course, because that's anachronistic and misogynistic and who do you think you are, like a sea captain or something?"

Tara and Willow grinned and giggled a little.

"However, I do entrust you with..." Anya paused, hearing the girls giggling. "What? Is something funny?"  
"No, n-nothing, sweetie, just, just keep still."  
"Okay. Blah, blah, blah, misogynistic. Blah, blah, 'I do however entrust you ... um, with my heart. Take care of my heart, won't you please? Take care of it because, it's all that I have. And, if you let me, I'll take care of your heart too."

Willow and Tara stopped giggling, moved by the unexpected tenderness.

"I'll protect it and tend to it, like a little stray. Wait, no. 'Like a, a little mangy stray that needs a home. No, that's not it either." Tara bit her lip to keep from laughing again.  
"Um... "Tara cleared her throat. "I think we're all set here. Let's ... take a look at you."

Anya turned around and Willow and Tara stepped back. They gazed at Anya with open mouths.

"Oh!" Tara exclaimed.

"Wow. You look lovely. Really... lovely." Willow agreed.

Anya smiled. "Thanks. It's probably the blush of imprudent spending. Do you think Xander will like it? Oh, I want to see Xander now!"  
"You can't. It's bad luck for the groom to see the bride in her dress, remember?" Willow reminded her.  
"Right. I can't keep all these ridiculous traditions straight. What if I'm not wearing my dress when I see him?"

Willow frowned at her disapprovingly.

"Okay, no sex. Cuddling?"

Willow and Tara giggled.

"Okay. It's just I'm so excited and I want to share it all with my best friend. I get to be with my best friend forever! Yay!" Anya squealed.

Tara looked at Willow and her eyes started watering. Willow looked concerned.

"Hey Anya we'll uh, be right back okay?" she stepped out the door, pulling Tara with her.

"What's wrong honey?" she said, wiping the tears from her girlfriend's eyes.

"Oh, nothing, it's just....I guess I'm jealous of Anya and Xander. I wish I could get married to my best friend too."

Willow felt her own eyes tear up. "Oh baby...you know if I could I'd marry you tomorrow." She kissed Tara. "But just because we can't...doesn't mean I don't plan on being with you forever." She kissed her again. As they pulled back Willow gently wiped the tears from Tara's eyes.

"I love you so much." She said quietly. Tara smiled.

"I love you too. Now, I should get back in there. You want to go see how Xander's doing?"

Willow wiped her own eyes and nodded. "I'll see you in a bit."

She walked around looking for Xander, finally finding him in the kitchen.

"I'll say this for the Y chromosome ... looks good in a tux." She teased her old friend.  
"Well, your double X's don't look too bad there, either." Xander replied.  
"You're getting married. My little Xander." Willow said, fiddling with his clothes.  
"All growed up."

"It's a good thing I realized I was gay, otherwise, hey, you, me and formal wear... " she joked.

Xander smiled slightly and hugged her. Willow didn't see that his face looked anything but happy. How could he tell Willow what the old man had just shown him, that if he married Anya they would both end up miserable?

"Do you know how much I love you?" she said, still hugging him.  
"Mmm ... 'bout half as much as I love you." He returned.

Willow smiled and pulled out of the hug.

"You ready for the long walk?"  
"Um ... yeah, just give me a sec, I wanna work on my vows." He stalled.  
"Take your time. It's not like we can start the wedding without you."

She smiled at him and left . Xander watched her go before dropping his brave smile.

Willow went out to the main room and peered in. Everyone looked ready to go. She decided to go back and get Xander moving. She walked back into the kitchen and stopped dead in her tracks. Her friend was nowhere to be found.

"Xander?" she called, looking around.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Meanwhile, Tara sat listening to Anya rehearse her vows yet again.

"I, Anya, promise to cherish you... Ew, no, not cherish. Uh, I promise...to have sex with you whenever ... I want, and, uh... uh, pledge to be your friend, and your wife, and your confidant, and your sex poodle..."  
"Uh, sex poodle?" Tara interrupted.  
Yeah, why?"  
"Um, I'm not sure you should say 'sex poodle' in your vows." Tara explained.  
"Huh." Anya didn't look like she cared.

Suddenly they both heard music coming from the main room.

"Music. They're playing the music! This is it." She grinned.

The door opened and Buffy poked her head in.

"Are you ready to go?"

But before Anya could answer, Willow pulled Buffy back into the hall. Buffy pulled the door closed as she turned to look at her friend.

"He's gone. Xander disappeared!" Willow said in despair.

Buffy stares in dismay. "What? Xander's gone? Wha-what should we do?"  
"I'm gonna go look for him ... I'm gonna find him. A-and you're going to stall." Willow said, rushing off.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Willow ran in the rain, her dress getting soaked but she didn't care. She had to find Xander and figure out what was wrong. Finally she spotted him, wandering aimlessly along the street.

"Xander!" She raced after him, catching up in no time as he turned around.

"Will, I kinda need to be alone."

"No, what you need is to get your tuxedo-ed butt back there and marry Anya!" Willow said, out of breath.

Xander turned as if to walk away again. She grabbed his arm.

"Where are you going? I don't understand, what happened?" she demanded.

Xander sighed and explained what the old man had shown him. While he was explaining Willow took his hand and slowly led him back towards the wedding.

"So you see, I can't marry her. I'll just make her life miserable and mine too." He said sadly. Willow stopped walking and took both of his hands in hers.

"Listen to me, Alexander Harris. If you don't marry Anya you'll make both of your lives miserable anyway. Hey, at least this way you'll be prepared, we can change the future. But you and Anya belong together. I know that and you know that. You aren't your parents, Xand." She said, finishing softly.

He looked up into her eyes, startled.

"What, I've been your best friend your whole life, you think I don't know you're terrified of that? But you don't need to be. You aren't him. You never will be. You're a great man, Xander, and I know that you love Anya with all your heart. You love her like I love Tara. What would you tell me if I suddenly decided that I was leaving her?" she tried to reason with him.

Xander wiped at his eyes. "You wouldn't do that. You guys are even having a baby. You don't have any doubts." He sniffed.

"First of all, I might consider it if I thought it was really what was best for her." She said. "I do understand that part of your fears. Second of all, you don't think I have doubts? Am I ready to be a mother? Are you ready to be married? Are we all grown up, Xander? Yeah, it's scary. Sometimes I don't feel like I'm grown up at all. It'd be easier to stay a kid forever, but we can't. So if someone came to me and showed me a bad future for Tara and me, might I think about running away? Yes. But then you'd come to me and remind me that I couldn't do that to us, do that to her. Tara chooses to stay with me, through the good times and the bad, even though it makes her life harder most of the time. Anya wants to marry you because she loves you and wants to be with you for the rest of her life. She knows your flaws, she knows the dangers, and she wants to marry you anyway. You know in there she said she was so happy because she was going to get to be with her best friend forever? Now, I don't know what will happen in the future, but I know that you two are meant to be together in it."

Willow paused, trying to think of what else she could try, when suddenly she was enveloped in a bear hug.

"Oh Will, what would I do without you?" he asked. "You're right, as usual."

"I am? I mean, of course I am!" she grinned. "Okay then, let's go get you married!" she pulled on his hand and they ran inside, only to find a full-blown fight going on. They looked over and noticed a demon holding Anya with Buffy squaring off in front of them.

"Anya!" Xander cried out. This distracted the demon and Buffy took advantage of it to kick him in the leg and cause him to release Anya, who ran over to Xander.

"I'm so ... I'm so glad you're here. It was all lies, what he showed you ... it wasn't true, he just wanted to break us up." She cried.

"It doesn't matter now." Xander comforted her. "It didn't work, see? I came back. I just...needed to think." He hugged her and smiled at Willow over Anya's shoulder.  
"So we'll be okay." She sniffed.

Buffy grabbed a veil off of the bison head on the wall and used it to strangle the demon. He sputtered for a minute but Xander grabbed a pedestal and smacked him in the head, knocking him down and unconscious. He slammed it down on his head again.

"It's dead." Xander announced.

"Yup." Buffy agreed.

Everyone in the room cheered.

Willow walked back over, holding Tara's hand. They looked down at the demon.

"Is anyone else waiting for it to go poof?" she asked expectantly. "Maybe we can cover it with flowers."

The guests began picking up chairs and setting them up again.

"Look at this damage. I'm not paying for this, you freaks!" Mr. Harris yelled.  
"Stop calling us freaks!" Krelvin, one of Anya's demon friends, yelled. Krelvin went over to Mr. Harris and shoved him in the chest. They started fighting again.

"Oh no! No, not again! No!" Mrs. Harris cried. The fighting broke out all over the room between demons and humans.

"Stop it!" Anya screamed, loud enough to make everyone stop and stare at her. "Everyone sit down! This wedding will go on, so get back in your seats!"

Everyone hastened to do so.

Xander looked hesitantly at his parents, arguing even as they picked up chairs. Willow followed his line of sight and saw his fears being demonstrated. She moved into his line of vision and caught his eye.

"You aren't them." She reminded him softly. Xander looked over at Anya, trying in vain to make her dress look like she hadn't just been in a fight. She looked up at him with love in her eyes, and he relaxed.

"I'll be waiting for you up there." He said to his bride before taking his place by the altar.

The rest of the guests took their seats, and the wedding party gathered in the outer room.

The door burst open and a soaking wet Giles rushed in. "Did I miss everything?" he said, out of breath.

The whole group started laughing. "No Giles, long story, why don't you sneak in and get a seat okay?" Willow said with a smile.

"I didn't miss anything?" he said, confused. His flights had been disasters, and though he had hoped to make it in time for some of the reception, he had assumed the ceremony would have been long over.

"No, you didn't. It's about to start." Anya said in a clipped tone. Giles gave a releved sigh and snuck into the hall.

"You okay Anya?" Tara asked with concern.

"As long as he stays there this time I am." She said stubbornly.

The music began to play and the couples of bridesmaids and groomsmen went one by one slowly down the aisle. The last couple, Willow and Tara, linked arms and grinned at each other before processing down and joining the group. As they took their places the music changed to 'Here Comes the Bride' and everyone turned to see Anya appear in the doorway.

Anya smiled radiantly even though her dress was torn and slightly bloody on one side. She reached Xander, still dripping wet, and took his hand to walk up to the altar.

"We are gathered here to celebrate the union of this man and this woman in holy matrimony." The minister began. "Marriage is a covenant not to be entered into lightly. You are vowing to make your lives as one and forsake all others. It is a moment of supreme joy that we are blessed to witness."

The wedding proceeded on, and finally the vows were reached.

"Has the couple prepared vows?" the minister asked. Xander and Anya looked at each other wide-eyed. "I didn't...uh, finish mine..." Xander said softly.

"It's okay, I didn't get it right either. Let's just use the regular ones." She said, squeezing his hand. The minister watched the exchange and nodded. He began to state the traditional vows for the couple to repeat.

"I, Alexander Harris, take thee, Anya Jenkins, to be my wife, to have and to hold, in sickness and in health, for richer or for poorer. With this ring, I thee wed." Xander said slowly, placing the ring on Anya's hand.

"I, Anya Jenkins, take thee, Alexander Harris, to be my husband, to have and to hold, in sickness and in health, for richer or for poorer. With this ring, I thee wed." Anya repeated.

"I now pronounce you man and wife. You may kiss the bride." Xander grinned and leaned in to kiss Anya to the cheers of everyone in the room. They broke apart and turned to face the audience.

"It is my happy privilege to introduce to you for the first time, Mr. and Mrs. Alexander Harris." The minister finished.

Anya and Xander beamed at each other before starting their walk back down the aisle, followed by Willow and Tara and then the bridesmaids and groomsmen. They waited in the entryway to greet the guests before moving on to the reception hall.

The guests milled around while the wedding party attempted to take pictures in which it was not obvious that the bride's dress was torn and bloody, the groom and best (wo)man had been drenched, and one of the bridesmaids had a ripped dress and looked like she'd been in a fight. Finally that too was over and they were free to mingle for a bit before dinner and toasts began.

Buffy made a beeline for her old watcher and enveloped him in a big hug.

"Um...oxygen...ribs..." he sputtered, her slayer strength not always an asset.

"Oh, sorry Giles!"

Willow and Tara, holding hands, came up to join them. "Hi Giles!" Willow said enthusiastically. "Glad you made it!"

"I nearly didn't, I suppose I should be grateful for a demon attack. That is what happened, correct? I saw the body, and I doubt Buffy's dress is supposed to look like that." He joked.

"Yeah part of it. To make a long story short, some bitter guy Anya cursed a long time ago tried to freak Xander out and get him to call it off and ruin her life, luckily Wills here talked him out of it." Buffy explained briefly. "Only I still had to kill him." She added as an afterthought.

"Well, this is Sunnydale. Willow, how are you doing? I've barely spoken to you lately, how are the magic control studies going?" he turned to the redhead.

"Oh, she's doing great Mr. Giles. She only uses magic when she n-needs to now." Tara explained, squeezing her girlfriend's hand in support.

"Good. I'm glad to hear it."

"Oh my god you didn't tell him yet did you?" Buffy suddenly asked.

"Tell me what?"

"Um...no, we wanted to tell him in person, and since we knew he was coming for the wedding..." Willow trailed off.

"Tell me what?" Giles repeated.

Willow looked around before answering. "Well Tara's pregnant! She's having my baby. I mean, of course it's my baby, Tara wouldn't cheat on me, and definitely not with a boy! Ew! I mean, not that there's anything wrong with guys, they just aren't for us....anyway that's not the point....so I guess you're thinking hey but how can Willow get someone pregnant cause I shouldn't be able to, it was because I did this spell, I was a man for a day, and we well, you know how people get pregnant I'm sure you can figure it out, so yeah she's having my baby." Willow finished finally.

Giles continued staring at her, trying to process the massive amount of words that had just come streaming out of the witch's mouth. Tara just stood next to her girlfriend, trying her best not to laugh.

"Wow." He finally said. "Well congratulations, of course. How far along are you?" he asked Tara. He decided to completely ignore the details of how this occurred.

"Almost four months." She smiled.

"See! You can see it a little now!" Willow exclaimed and rubbed Tara's belly. "Just barely."

They were interrupted by the clanging of a knife on a glass. They looked around to see Anya trying to get everyone to sit down.

"I guess that's our cue." Willow said to Tara, and they moved to the front of the room.

Willow's 'best man' speech was typical Willow – slightly rambling at times but straight from the heart.

"Xander has been my best friend since before I could remember. We went all the way from pre-school to high school together, and I don't know how I would have survived without him. He was always there for me, even when I was the biggest nerd in school. We've been through more together than I could have imagined, and I'm sure we'll stay best friends all the way up to retirement home time. Well, best friends except for Anya and Tara of course, since they are in a special category. I had the biggest crush on him all through high school, and if you'd told me at the time that I'd be standing at his wedding to another woman completely happy for him, I probably would have laughed at you." Those in the audience who knew Willow well laughed slightly at that. "Well, times change, and here I am, his best man and so proud to be that. Anya and I have gone through some rough patches, I guess partly because nobody could ever be good enough for my Xander. But when it comes down to it, I know in my heart that she is. Xander, you picked a special one, there's no doubt about that. Anya and Xander are perfect for each other, and I'm so happy for them on this special day. So here's to Anya and Xander everyone, Mr. And Mrs. Alexander Harris!"

Tara had tried everything she could to get out of doing a speech at the wedding, but Anya wouldn't hear of it. So she had resigned herself to it and just decided to make it as short as she thought she could get away with.

"I h-haven't know Anya nearly as long as Willow has known Xander, only about t-two years now. B-but we bonded right from the start, because she was pretty new to their group of friends too. People don't always get Anya, but then people don't always get m-me either, so I understand. There's nothing hidden about Anya, you always know what she thinks about you. It can be annoying at times, but it's refreshing. An-anyway, I've watched Anya and Xander get closer and more serious, and we were all so happy for them when they announced their engagement. I agree with Willow, they are perfect together, and I wish them all the best today."

Tara sat down, amazed that she had gotten through all of that with very little stuttering.

The rest of the evening went by with surprisingly few catches. The demons and the Harris' simply kept their distance from one another and no fights broke out. Finally it was time to throw the bouquet and garter.

Anya was very excited about the bouquet throwing. She made sure all the women were in a clump before turning around and tossing it over her back. Tara, being the shy woman that she was, ended up in the back of the group, which was fine with her. But Anya threw the bouquet a little farther than she intended, and it almost sailed right over the group, until Tara reached up her hand without really thinking and caught it. Her face turned red when she realized what she had done.

"Um...oops, I don't think that was really for me...want to th-throw it again?" she asked hopefully.

Everyone laughed and insisted no.

Willow had not intended to take part in this particular ritual, insisting that it seemed a little silly for the best man to try and catch the bouquet, but when she saw Tara catch it she decided to join in. So when the men lined up to catch the garter, she went right along with them. She silenced the beginnings of protests with a glare.

"Hey, I am the best man, and that's my girlfriend with the bouquet. So no arguments, I get to try for this!"

Xander laughed at her and turned around to throw Anya's garter. He aimed it as best he could at Willow, and she did the rest by lunging in front of a man and snatching it up triumphantly.

Everyone who knew about her and Tara cheered, and the others clapped politely, not really sure they wanted to know.

Tara blushed as Willow put the garter on her leg before pulling her up and kissing her lightly but clearly with love.

"And that catch was all me, no magic involved." She whispered in the blonde's ear before letting her go.

More cheers made both women turn bright red and Willow giggled.

"Okay, okay, enough already. Are you ready to go?" she asked Anya and Xander. They had rented a limo to take them to a seaside hotel in the next town for their honeymoon. They hadn't had the money to go far, but Buffy had insisted that they get out of Sunnydale, just in case.


	5. An Addition to the Scooby Family

For disclaimers see Chapter 1

The next few months passed by with relatively few huge demon events.

Willow and Tara finished out their junior year of college while dealing with Tara's ever-advancing pregnancy and the fallout from it. Most of the people they knew couldn't be told the reality so in desparation Tara told a few people she had been jumped in an alley. Word soon spread about her horrible experience and people stopped asking questions. By the end of the year she was seven months along and ready for a break. Their curiosity finally beat out their desire to be surprised and they returned from the latest OB/GYN appointment with news.

"It's a girl!" Willow shrieked upon entering the Magic Box. "A girl, a girl everyone!" She remembered to hold the door open for her now-huge girlfriend as she waddled through and collapsed in a seat, looking tired but just as excited as the redhead.

"Ooh, you finally asked? Yay! I was hoping it would be a girl!" Dawn exclaimed. "Have you thought of a name for her yet?"

Willow and Tara exchanged glances. "Not yet." They said in unison, and laughed.

"We'll let you know when we do Dawnie." Tara assured the enthusiastic self-proclaimed 'aunt.'

"Anything new on the demon front, Giles?" Willow asked. The watcher had decided to remain in Sunnydale after realizing that while his ex-charge could deal on her own, his place really was with the Scoobies. There had been little left for him in England in any case, and he was secretly as excited by the thought of Tara's child as Dawn was.

"No, I'm afraid not. I must admit it makes me a bit nervous, you know what that usually means." He said, wiping his glasses.

Buffy groaned. "We know, we know. Some big bad evil brewing. Can't we just enjoy the peace for a while?"

Heads nodded around the table. "I for one am glad for the low demon sightings, especially now." Willow pointed out. "Well, if there's nothing huge going on, I think we're going to head home. Anyone want a ride?"

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

About a week later, Tara and Willow were laying in bed on a lazy Saturday morning. Willow stroked Tara's belly.

"Hey baby! Oh, moving around, are you? Be nice to your mommy, okay, she doesn't like your kicking as much as I do." She grinned up at her girlfriend, who was watching Willow's actions with a smirk. Willow loved to talk to the baby.

"Honey? I thought of a name last night." She mentioned.

Willow sat up. "And you didn't tell me?" she pouted.

"Well...it was kinda while I was sleeping, so this is the first chance I've had." She teased the redhead. "Anyway, what do you think about Eva?"

"Eva." Willow rolled the name around in her mouth. "Eva Maclay, don't even think about slamming that door!" she yelled suddenly, causing Tara to start. "I like it." She grinned.

Tara giggled. "You've been reading those baby name websites again, haven't you."

Willow turned red. "Well, it said to pick a name you wouldn't feel stupid yelling!"

"Well yeah, but don't you think it's a little early to be thinking about raising a teenager? Besides, why is her last name Maclay? What about Rosenberg?"

Willow made a puzzled face. "How can her last name be Rosenberg, as far as the state is concerned she's only yours." She stuck her lip out.

"I know...but wouldn't it be nice if we all had the same last name? I-I've been thinking about changing mine. That is, if you're okay with it." She held her breath, worried Willow wouldn't like the idea.

Willow's green eyes went wide. "Can you do that? I mean, even if you wanted to? You want to? Wow.."

"I don't know if I can, I was thinking I'd make up some story about how I was converting to Judaism and wanted a new name, or something...I wanted to get your opinion before I did too much research into it. But in terms of wanting to...why wouldn't I want to? What does my name stand for, other than my father and my family? I'd much rather have the same name as you than him." She drew the redhead close and kissed her gently. "Plus then our baby could have the same name as both of us." She pointed out. "If I could do it soon."

"Eva Rosenberg." Tara clapped her hand over Willow's mouth before she could yell it out at some imaginary teen acting out.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The court in Sunnydale apparently had no problem with Tara changing her name to Rosenberg – they didn't even ask her for a reason. Willow reasoned that it was similar to other instances in which people in authority turned a blind eye just in case something odd was going on. Either way, a week before her due date, Tara was officially a Maclay no longer.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Two weeks after the party to celebrate Tara's name change, Eva Rosenberg was still stubbornly remaining in utero. Tara was getting restless and anxious, though the doctor told her there was no reason to worry yet. Willow, of course, was worried sick and feeling useless, since the most she could do for her girlfriend was cook her food. Luckily for both mothers-to-be, just as they were getting ready for bed, Tara squinted her eyes shut and sat down on the bed.

"Honey? Are you okay?" she asked with concern.

Tara nodded shortly. "Yeah...it's just... I think...it's time."

"Time? Oh, TIME! Oh goddess, okay, okay, here's your bag, I'll just throw my clothes back on..." she was changed again in a matter of seconds. She found Tara's flipflops and placed them in front of her feet to slip on. "Ready? Okay I have the bag, let's go!" she rushed the very pregnant woman out of the bedroom. "Buffy! Dawn! It's time, the baby!" she shouted, walking down the hallway. Buffy and Dawn emerged out of their rooms.

"Oh my god, really? Eva's going to be born now? Oh wow this is so exciting!" Dawn squealed.

Along with her three enthusiastic helpers, Tara was at the hospital in less than ten minutes, so quickly that she didn't even have another contraction until she was getting out of the car.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Despite their rush to get her there, three long hours later, Buffy, Dawn, Giles, Anya, and Xander were still restlessly waiting in the waiting room.

"Why's it taking so long?" Anya asked for the tenth time.

"An, honey, we told you it might take a while." Xander explained again.

"But I want to see the baby. It needs to hurry up." She said in a huff.

The Summers girls, curled up together on another couch, just rolled their eyes and tried to ignore her.

Giles hung up the phone for what seemed like the millionth time that night.

"Another one?" Buffy asked tersely.

Giles just nodded as he cleaned his glasses.

"Eighteen dead potential slayers can't be a coincidence!"

Giles sighed. "I agree with you Buffy, I just don't know what can be done from here. The girls are spread all over the world. It's not as if we can hide them in the basement."

Buffy raised her eyebrow, an action which caused Giles to sigh and remove his glasses.

"There are still dozens of potentials Buffy, you can't be suggesting we bring them here."

"Well they'd be safer wouldn't they?"

"Either that or you'd be playing right into the hands of the evil thing doing this, bringing everyone together to make one easy target." Anya said casually.

Buffy and Giles turned to stare at her unwanted comment that nontheless made a good point.

Luckily for all involved, Willow chose that moment to enter the waiting room. She was still dressed in the hospital scrubs she had been given, and though she looked tired she was grinning from ear to ear. The group leapt up and rushed over to her expectantly.

"Oh my god, she's so perfet guys, so tiny, so beautiful, and we made her, and Tara, well Tara is a goddess, that was amazing, and you have to see her, they're cleaning her up and checking her out and everything, and they said we can go see Tara and they'll bring Eva in there."

As Willow finished her speech there were hugs all around, and she walked them to where Tara was in a recovery room.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Willow peeked in the door of Tara's room.

She stopped and stared in silence, unusually at a loss for words. Willow temporarily forgot all about their friends waiting outside the door in her happiness at the scene she saw in front of her.

Tara was lying in the bed, looking tired but radiant, cradling a tiny bundle in her arms. She was looking down at the baby girl, and Willow could just see the baby's head sticking out of the blanket. Sensing her girlfriend's presence, Tara looked up and smiled.

"Hi."

Willow just grinned and rushed over to the bed, easily fitting her small frame on the side of the bed next to Tara. She touched the baby's head almost reverantly, amazed at the tiny bundle of life.

"Wow." She repeated the words that she had already said many times upon seeing her daughter. Somehow it was the best she could do.

"Here, you hold her." Tara offered, gently placing the infant into the redhead's arms. Willow's eyes got even bigger as she cradled her daughter.

"Did you see the gang?" Tara asked, resting her head on Willow's shoulder.

"Oh!" Willow started. "I forgot, they're outside, I said I'd check to see if you were up for visitors. Yes?"

"Of course, you can..."

Her suggestion was interrupted by a blonde slayer bursting through the door.

"Uh...hi!" Buffy said sheepishly as she was followed closely by Dawn, Xander, Anya, and Giles.

"Were you listening to us?" Willow asked with a smile, not really upset with her friend.

"Um, no, not... well yes okay but hey it's not my fault, special slayer ears! Anyway Tara said yes!"

Willow laughed at the enthusiastic girl. Buffy had had a difficult time this year, but she seemed genuinely excited by the prospect of an addition to their little family.

"Oh my god she's so tiny!" squealed Dawn, pushing around her older sister and rushing over to the bed. "Can I hold her? Can I?"

Willow looked to Tara for agreement before nodding at the teen.

"Here, be careful with her head..." She fussed slightly.

"Oh wow, her hair is red! And her eyes are blue!" she said as the baby blinked sleepily up at her.

Eva's mothers grinned.

"I know! Isn't she just perfect?" Willow beamed.

Anya turned to Xander. "I want one, Xander."

Xander's eyes went wide. "Uh, An, look how tiny she is, don't you think we'd lose her or break her or something?" he said faintly.

"Xander!" Buffy reproached him. Tara's eyes went wide.

"Okay, no babysitting for Xander." Dawn said happily as she rocked Eva, trying to make sure she had that area cornered.

Willow giggled. "Do you remember that time we had to take care of eggs and pretend they were babies?" she turned to Tara. "Xander and I were partners and he totally neglected our egg baby."

"Hey, but they ended up being evil demon eggs, so really how much did it matter?" he countered.

"My turn to hold Eva!" Buffy interrupted, reaching for the baby. Dawn reluctantly gave her up.

"I'm serious Xander. It's the way the world works. You get married, you have a baby. We're married, now it's time for the baby. Look, they did it even before the marriage step."

"Hey, that's not fair and you know it, they can't. But Tara changed her name and all, it's basically the same thing!" Dawn reprimanded the former demon.

The happy group continued to pass the baby around, but after a few rounds she started fussing.

"Uh, Tara, I think she wants you." Buffy said, giving the infant back to her mother.

Tara looked lovingly down at the tiny bundle and smiled. "I think she's probably hungry." Her breasts were already full, having been ready for this.

Giles started moving toward the door. "I, er, I have to go make a call..."

Buffy's eyes got wide. "Uh, okay um I'm going to go see what Giles is up to."

"Me too!" echoed Xander and Dawn, the former pulling his girlfriend out of the room along with him as she seemed to have no qualms about staying put.

Willow giggled. "Guess they don't want to see your breasts, honey."

Tara smiled back. "Well that wouldn't have been a problem, since I was going to suggest that you do it."

Willow's eyes went wide. "But we don't, I mean I know Dr. Yates said it was a possibility, but we don't know if I can!"

The doctor had said that sometimes with lesbian partners the non-pregnant partner also began producing milk, and she thought it was more than likely with the witches since they were magically linked.

Tara giggled. "Um, honey, look down. Can't you feel that?"

Willow looked down in confusion and her eyes went even wider when she saw a damp spot on the front of her left breast. "Oh my goddess, I am, wow, I am!"

Eva started fussing again, waving her little arms around.

"Honey, as much as I want to, are you sure you don't want to feed her first? I mean it's a whole mother-baby thing right? I don't want to take that away from you." Willow worried.

"Willow, you're her mother too. I may have carried her, but now we're equal okay? Besides, I got to have her the past nine months, I want you to have something special now." Willow's green eyes watered with tears of love as she moved over to the bed.

Tara scooted over to make room for her. "Um, you should probably raise your shirt and bra honey, she can't eat through clothes." Tara said with a smile when the redhead seemed to be at a loss.

"Oh! Yeah, of course." Willow tentatively scooted her clothes up over her chest. "You know, we forgot to go get you those nursing bras, now we can get me one at the same time!" she grinned. "Wow that's really strange." she said, touching her nipple in amazement at the fact that it was producing milk. Tara smiled and passed the baby over. After some experimenting the baby located the food source and started sucking away. Willow's face was priceless.

"Wow she's really good at that, she's like a little vacuum cleaner! Did we get the superpower girl or something?"

"It's all instinctual hon, I think all babies are like that." Tara said, hiding her smile.

"Well it's very weird, nice but weird. You have to try it really soon."

"Oh I will, I'm sure she'll be hungry again soon. I love you so much Willow." the emotion of the day was catching up with the new mother. She leaned her head over to capture Willow's lips in a long kiss before resting her head on the nursing woman's shoulder.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Well, that's it for now! I might write a sequel if people like this story. Thoughts?


End file.
